The Best Bass Trap Sound Treatment for Concrete Walls

Standing Waves

• In rooms with concrete walls, low frequency bass sounds will reflect off of the walls to create a standing wave. This alters the properties of the sound in the room, which makes it louder in some places and quieter in others, depending on whether the reflecting waves reinforce the sound waves in the room or interfere with them. Installing bass traps on the walls around your home theater or recording studio will prevent sound from echoing off your concrete walls and deliver cleaner sound with a uniform volume.

Design

• Panels should completely cover the walls to prevent sound waves from bypassing your bass trap. The most effective design for a wall treatment includes a combination of bass traps and traps designed to capture sound at the mid and high ranges. Rooms that alternate bass trap panels with high- and mid-absorbing panels ensure that the sound in your room is clear throughout the audible range. Make sure that the corners of your room are covered with bass traps since these areas affect low frequency sounds more so than the flat parts of the walls.

Materials

• The most effective and cost-friendly material for absorbing sounds in the bass frequencies is wood. Bass traps built with a wooden frame and a smooth plywood facing will effectively trap low frequency sounds. Rigid fiberglass insulation installed behind the plywood facing absorbs the vibrations from the plywood and prevents them from re-entering the room. The most effective bass traps use smooth-faced plywood with no knots or deformities. Caulking or another form of adhesive is used to seal the gaps between the plywood face and the wooden frame to further increase their effectiveness at capturing low frequency sounds.

Considerations

• Installing an effective bass trap system in your room will occupy between 2 to 4 inches of space out from each wall. If your room has a concrete ceiling, you should also consider installing bass traps there. If your room shares a wall with a work space or another noisy environment, consider adding insulation between the wall and the wooden frame of the bass trap to reduce the amount of sound transmitted through the walls from adjacent rooms.